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CopperPoint Mutual Insurance Company announced a definitive agreement to acquire Pacific Compensation Insurance Company from Alleghany Insurance Holdings for $150M in cash. The combined book of underwriting business for the two companies will represent approximately $400M in premium and a combined asset base of nearly $4.1B, with $1.5B in policyholder surplus. "The acquisition of PacificComp represents a significant milestone in CopperPoint's geographic expansion and diversification initiatives. PacificComp brings a proven track record, strong underwriting discipline and focused approach to serving businesses in the California market. The two companies share complementary strengths, including expertise in workers' compensation and a commitment to providing the highest quality customer experience through select independent agents," the company said. Beyond this synergy, CopperPoint's launch of commercial lines to its workers' compensation customers in Arizona opens opportunities to bring new products and services to the California market. Upon closing, PacificComp will continue to operate under its current name as part of the broader CopperPoint family of companies. Terms of the agreement include the purchase of adverse development reinsurance cover on PacificComp's pre-acquisition claims. The transaction is expected to close at the end of the year subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory review and approvals.

YAlleghany

$566.78

5.05 (0.90%)

09/11/17

JMPS

09/11/17UPGRADETarget $625JMPSOutperform

Alleghany upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities

JMP Securities analyst Matthew Carletti said Hurricane Irma still has the potential to be the largest insured natural catastrophe event in U.S. insurance industry history, though he believes that the property catastrophe market will see a market turn at the coming January 1 renewal. He recommends investors focus near-term on insurers that have lower-than-peer exposure to the event, such as Chubb (CB) and Alleghany (Y), which he upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform with a $625 price target. He also pointed to Amerisafe (AMSF) and ProAssurance (PRA) as insurers with no exposure to Irma losses that have been caught up in the pre-Irma selloff in the space.

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